Rebuilding Connection, Reward and Resilience in Higher Education

When I speak to HR and reward leaders in higher education right now, one theme comes up again and again: they’re feeling financial pressure against a backdrop of constant organisational restructuring.

This pressure has the potential to change how connected employees feel towards their institution, and with damaging long term consequences.

That’s why today we’re launching our new eBook, Rebuilding Connection, Reward and Resilience in Higher Education.

Drawing on our wider research, plus our experience working with universities across the UK, we want to help you explore how HR and reward leaders can rebuild and revive engagement in ways that make clear organisational and financial sense.

Why engagement in universities matters more than ever

The business case for action is clear. Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency showing that staff costs represent 55–60% of total expenditure. With income falling due to declining numbers of international students, frozen tuition fees and cost inflation, many universities have had to restructure and make redundancies. In turn, this has unsettled the people that remain.

Our recent research shows a consistent pattern. People care deeply about what they do but increasingly feel less supported by the organisations they work for.

In fact, 64% of employees say they are more committed to their work than to their employer. In universities, that disconnect matters, and particularly when it starts to impact retention. And not least because the cost of poor retention rates is so high.

Frequently cited modelling from Oxford Economics estimates that replacing an employee earning £25,000 or more costs over £30,000 once recruitment, training and lost productivity are factored in. Losing experienced people is expensive, both financially and institutionally.

Universities also face the challenge of meeting the needs of and engaging with one of the most diverse workforces in the public sector, from early-career academics on fixed-term contracts, to mid-career professional staff balancing family pressures, globally recruited professors, technicians, maintenance staff and long-serving academics approaching retirement.

Add in cost-of-living pressures, particularly in cities like London, Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh and it becomes clear why one-size-fits-all engagement strategies are struggling to land.

The issue is not a lack of effort from HR teams. It’s that engagement now needs to be more targeted, visible and relevant to different roles, career stages and life circumstances.

A better way forward

So how to move forward and address these issues? One of the biggest challenges we see is that many universities are hampered by expensive, fragmented benefits structures they have inherited through decades of expansion, merger and incremental decision-making.

In our new eBook, we set out a four-part framework that offers a cleaner, more unified and flexible platform for engaging with employees at all levels. Our framework focuses on:

• Personalised recognition that reinforces shared purpose and collaboration
• Benefits that reflect workforce diversity and values, rather than legacy structures
• Cost-of-living support that delivers real financial impact without inflating salary budgets
• Wellbeing treated as a performance enabler, not a bolt-on programme

The evidence for this kind of action is compelling. 93% of employees say feeling appreciated matters, and 77% say support and recognition directly improve performance. Often, we find through our work with universities that well-designed interventions, such as clearer recognition, better communication of total reward, practical financial support deliver disproportionate returns.

From resilience to renewal

While the current challenges facing higher education are significant, universities that invest deliberately in engagement will be better placed to build long-term resilience.

At Reward Gateway | Edenred, we work with universities to help them deliver a ‘Human Return’ of their workforce investment: creating measurable value through lower turnover, higher productivity and direct employee savings delivered via benefits and salary sacrifice schemes.

Because we understand that engagement is no longer a ‘nice to have’. In today’s higher education landscape, it is fundamental to sustainable success.

Download the eBook: Rebuilding Connection, Reward and Resilience in Higher Education